Who could have guessed that a pair of $20 kitchen shears would become our most used kitchen gadget? But these little guys have 100 uses in the kitchen. Click through to read about some of our favorite uses, and find out what you should look for when buying kitchen shears.

Of course you know that you can open packages with kitchen shears, but that's certainly not all they're good for.

• Snip a Few Herbs Whether you've got a window box full of herbs, or just plastic containers in the fridge, kitchen shears can easily snip the fibers in herb stems. Thus, they rarely bruise herbs the way a knife will.

• Spatchcock a Chicken Shears are the best way to take the backbone out of a chicken. You could get a pair of poultry shears specifically for this job, but we find that most brands of all-purpose kitchen shears will do.

• Cut Tomatoes When we add whole canned tomatoes to a sauce, we use kitchen shears to roughly chop them in the pan, rather than dirtying the cutting board.

• Trim the Fat Have a little extra fat on your meat? Whip out your trusty shears to easily get rid of it.

• Make Pita Triangles Sure, when we're working by ourselves, it's faster to use a knife to slice through pita. But when we've got a young helper, kitchen shears are a relatively safe way for them to participate.

• Open Bottles Many brands feature a ridged area between the handles, designed to help grip and open tough jars.

• Cut Chilies When small, strong chilies are called for in a dish, we snip them right into the pan, keeping sensitive fingers away from the capsicum.

• Trim Dough Shears will trim pie dough to fit in pie pan without stretching or damaging the dough. Unlike with a knife, you can wait to trim until after you've fit the dough into the pan, ensuring it's the right size.

Which Kitchen Scissors Should You Buy?

Scissors made from stainless steel won't rust and are pretty easy to keep clean. Look for blades that come apart for easy cleaning, especially if you'll be using them to cut raw meat and other bacteria-carrying foods. We love the Messermeister kitchen shears pictured above, which have stainless blades that are easy to take apart. Best of all, you can find them for less than $20.